rummage: [16] Rummage is etymologically ‘roomage’. It originally denoted the ‘stowage of cargo in a ship’s hold’. It came from Anglo- Norman *rumage, a reduced form of Old French arrumage. This was derived from the verb arrumer ‘stow in a hold’, which itself was based on run ‘ship’s hold’. And this in turn was borrowed from Middle Dutch ruim ‘space’, a relative of English room. The verb rummage, derived from the noun, was also used for ‘search a ship’s hold’, which is where the modern notion of ‘rummaging around’ comes from. => room
